


Tale of the Forgotten Song

by AppleSoda



Series: Kingdoms of Prophecy [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Canon, Azura learns to trust other humans in this yay, Drama, F/M, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Personal Growth, Prophetic Dreams, Secret Identity, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-08-21 11:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16575218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleSoda/pseuds/AppleSoda
Summary: Fending off the cruel legacy of a hidden Kingdom, Azura travels into the kingdom of Hoshido as a wandering bard. When she saves the life of a troubled young Hoshidan Prince, the chance offered to her opens doors to more opportunities-- and danger-- than she had ever dreamed of.





	1. Prologue: A Faint Memory

**Author's Note:**

> *slaps top of new fanfic* This bad boy is going to fit so many mom issues/dream sequences in it

Azura set down her cold tea with a sharp _clack_ , her fingers trembling as she stared out into the cool misty morning. She had performed in a lackluster fashion the previous night, and knew that the innkeeper would have displeased words with her in a matter of hours, when the rest of the staff rose.

  


A life of stagnant luxury where the work was easy was never one that she was accustomed to. Both times that she resided within Nohr’s royal hold, she had been the subject of ridicule, gossip, or worse.

  


The second time, it was a little easier. That time, she had allies at her side, as unlikely as it seemed. They had given her a chance when she could have taken the opportunity to drown it in a spate of sorrows. Wracked with pain, she had flooded their throne room and threatened their king. And yet, one voice had stood for her and given her another life.

  


Azura had traveled to Hoshido before her fateful journey into Nohr in the last year. Upon returning to the sunlit kingdom of rice paddies and picturesque villages, she found that it had changed. Perhaps she hcd changed too much, as well.

  


Whenever she sang, she knew the pitch to be correct. The timing and tempo were still there. But something had been sapped from her songs after the blue pendant, her mother’s last gift to her, had been shattered. She knew why it had to be done— the thing was swamping her mind with thoughts of murdering innocent children, after all. But a songstress earned wages only as good as her voice.

  


“You’re lucky that a nobleman is booking a suite of rooms for his hunting party,” grumbled the innkeeper as he strode back into the nearly empty dining hall. Grabbing a rag behind the counter, he began to meticulously polish one of the dining room tables. “Paid a fortune in their dinner bill last night. But if you ask me, high-falutin’ royals will never know how hard it is to earn a single coin.”

  


“Everybody goes through difficult times.” She answered, the irony of his comment weighing on her tongue. But it did not matter. What good would it do for someone to know that she was a villainous exiled queen of Valla?

  


The trouble was that Azura’s path forward seemed aimless. Every note seemed technically perfect but lacked the vigor that she had wanted. In the days after a performance, she would struggle to croak out words once more.

  


What was the matter with her? Singing had come so easily to her for as long as she had known about setting words to a pitch, rhythm, and melody. Now, everything seemed to move as sluggishly as a broken-winged bird.

  


Azura heartd the soft scritch of metal against wood, and turned to the other inhabitant of the room with a curious glance. Sitting besides them was a young man, focused on carving out arrowshafts from a pile of thin wooden dowels. His long pale hair was tied back away from his face with a red leather cord, framing the sharp features of a face that likely put him as one of the nobles the innkeeper was loudly gossiping about.

  


But troublingly, thought Azura in silence, he looked as if he had not gotten much sleep as of late. Though the young man’s focus was sharp, the bags under his eyes and the ways his arm went slack told her everything that she needed to know.

  


“Are you Nohrian?” he sat up taller, straightening the length of his thick traveling tunic. Leather armguards sat on the table, as if he would be departing for the woodlands filled with game right when he was finished.

  


“Something like that. I’ve lived in Nohr for some time,” Azura answered. It was far easier— and safer— to answer that way, and she had the time and traveling experience to really hone the lie for just about anyone. “Why do you ask?”

  


“Nothing. There was a girl that I may have seen while traveling there sometime ago…” finishing another arrow shaft, he took ahold of the ones that he had finished, sorting them neatly into a small bundle. When he looked at her again, it was as if he was searching for someone to recognize.

  


Azura paused for a moment. Of course she knew when he referred to. It was the moment when she had realized that things weren’t going to be in her control. There were bits and pieces of that day that still surfaced from time to time. The skirmish, the set-up that would let her gain trust, the Hoshidan Royalty.

  


She looked over the young man once more. He had stood not as a part of the Hoshidans’ delegation, but at its center. And that only meant—

  


“Prince Takumi! The carriage is ready to take us into the mountains!” A young samurai with a brassy voice banged the doors of the inn open, causing the innkeeper to look up sharply, biting back a slur. A harried-looking woman in an orange kimono followed after him, neatly closing the doors as gently as she could.

  


“Hinata, please. We can’t afford to keep repaying people for these. Well, more specifically, youc can’t make a habit of manhandling doors like that.”

  


“I’m trying! But I was so excited to take Lord Takumi on this hunt—”

  


“Please,” the prince held up a hand. “There’s no need to ask for special treatment here. We chose this inn for its closeness to one of my favorite spots to look for deer.” Propping his hands on the table, he swung his legs back and stood up to his full height.

  


“I’ll be seeing you around, Miss—”

  


“Azura. I’m a traveling bard.” She beamed, hiding the scuffed remains of her confidence to perform the part. But he didn’t need to know that now.

  


As the three Hoshidans departed, Azura drained the dregs of her tea, unsure of what had transpired.

  


“A Prince. I’ll make a fortune and be the talk of the town for weeks!” squealed the innkeeper, looking in much better spirits. “Alright, now, you—” her voice sharpened so quickly that Azura was certain it could be thrown as a shuriken that Hoshidan ninjas favored. “They’ve ordered a small dinner, and you’re going to be giving the performance of your lifetime tonight. I don’t want to hear otherwise.”

  


“Of course,” answered Azura. As rusty as her voice was, she was never one to pass up an opportunity for information. The land, new to her, had offered opportunities. And if making a good impression on its royalty was the way to start a clean slate, the least that she could do was try.

  


  



	2. Rain-soaked Clash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am increasingly convinced that Takumi is a pretty anime boy version of gaston from beauty and the beast

 

 

The rain lasted throughout the afternoon, which meant that animals were most likely to hide away in the woods, staying still and out of sight. Takumi knew that his prospects of catching anything worth talking about would be slim, but only days remained until a series of meetings within the castle would take up the rest of his month. As patient as the Queen was with his occasional hunting excursions, even Mikoto’s temperament had its limits.

 

The Hoshidan court had always thought of him as something of a ruffian for being so devoted to the sport. He had heard the more foppish courtier question whether he was truly a King’s son if all he did was set traps, wrap himself in a hunter’s homespun rags, and shoot down birds and deer instead of becoming the prince they needed. But what did they need? Another silk-clothed, hand-fed puppet, to simply drag about as they liked?

 

Takumi was sure that he would never give them that, not if he had anything to say about it. His youngest sister, Sakura, was certain to start fretting over how others saw their tight-knit, eccentric little family. Tomboyish Hinoka drew comments about her suitability for marriage. Ryoma, who led them since the King had passed from a mysterious illness, was the paragon of a ruler and the sole presence out of the four that the nobility seemed to respect. It left him out as something of an odd duck, the spare to the heir that could do as he pleased — to an extent.

 

He breathed in the piny scent of the gentle slopes, and thought to what the rest of his afternoon would yield. But one thing— or person— from the inn his retainers chose stuck out in his mind.

 

Azura had a piericng look that pried past his secrets without her saying a word about them. She unnerved Takumi, and he was certain that he had seen that focused look and her golden eyes at some point in the past. It was definitely in Nohr, and she had definitely done something remarkable in the heat of battle. But that day had been a packed one, between the festivities and the fact that when his sister was in danger, his instincts of battle took over. Everything that had happened after that had been a blur.

 

The leaves near Takumi suddenly rustled, and he felt optimistic for the first time in several hours that something stirred through the trees. Leveling his bow, he watched the undergrowth carefully for a sign of movement. Beside him were two archers he had brought along. Oboro and Hinata, as dedicated as they were to him, were less enthused about the act of hunting in itself and stood guard elsewhere.

 

His gaze flickered over towards the small figure that had darted from the trees. Taking an arrow and notching it as easily as he breathed, he drew the bow back with determination. If all went off without a hitch, they would return early to the inn and retire. It was simply too cold to bother otherwise. 

 

A strangled cry near him drew his attention, as Takumi swerved to see the source of the commotion. The archer next to him had been cut-- not by claws or talons of a creature, but by a blade.

 

“Milord, it’s an ambush!” cried the other soldier. He drew back, firing an arrow at the assailant. From the woods, soldiers rippling with malicious purple flames appeared to flicker into existence from the rainy, foggy terrain. They moved with a jerkiness to their movements that reminded Takumi of yokai stories that one of his mother’s retainers, Reina, was fond of telling them.

 

His hand went to the Fujin Yumi, on loan from Mikoto once more, and its energies called out to him.

 

“I don’t know who you are, but you’re going to regret facing my bow!” at once, he levelled three clean shots at the advancing foes, knocking bolts of light into them. A grin crept onto his face at the sight of the figures staggering back. Wherever his assailants had crawled out from, they weren’t invulnerable to a series of clean hits from one of Hoshido’s reknowned weapons. The archer at his back fired off a few arrows to keep the fighters down for good. In a matter of moments, he had turned the tide.

 

The soft sound of hoofbeats approached as a final figure emerged from the rainy forest. She was atop a horse, and held a tome in her hands. A regal feather crowned her short bobbed hair, though her image was almost blurred completely by the same purple magic that had cloaked the other assailants. The mage was someone far more formidable than the average soldier, and he lacked backup. With a short, frustrated grunt, Takumi fell back, trying to increase the distance between him and the valkyrie.

 

“You’re a strong one, aren’t you?” the voice echoed distantly, as if it was communicating something to him from deep under water. “So full of promise, but so far away from it when it comes to your heart. Yes…You’ll do….”

 

The last thing Takumi saw was a glow of light emanate from her before everything went dark. His limbs grew heavy, as if stones weighed down his sleeves.

 

= = =

 

Light filtered down through the shard of ice-blue crystal that Azura flipped between her fingers. It didn’t look like anything that had been shattered by the blade of a magical sword. And yet, when whole, it contained a magic that was far more powerful than anything she had ever known.

 

Whenever her songs had tapped into the energy of Valla, her true kingdom, Azura felt like anything was possible and any obstacle conquerable. But that feeling had come at a far too steep price, and had won her nothing. And it had nearly consumed her whole.

 

There was something to be said by the fact taht she was still sitting there, alive albeit bored, to tell the tale.

 

She slipped the small crystal fragment into her pockets, feeling the slight cool pulse of the scraps of magic it contained brush against her wrist. Despite the fact that its magics had complicated everything, it was the only thing close to a real homethat she had left. And it would be from her past that she would start building a way forward.

 

Her wool-gathering was interrupted by a sudden crash of something hitting the wall. Arrows suddenly embedded themselves in the wall next to her, flying through the paper doors of the room as if they were nothing.

 

Azura sat up suddenly, her brow furrowed.

 

Wherever the innkeeper had been bustling about, they were missing. Whether she was away at market or out on another errand, Azura couldn’t say. But something had gone wrong. She hurried up the stairs and went to her rooms, the cheapest lodgings that the inn furnished.

 

From her packs she drew a long, object wrapped in cloth. Undoing the cord that tied it together, Azura drew out the beautiful gold-tipped lance. She held the weapon aloft for a second, regarding it solemnly.

 

So far her travelshad been uneventful, but the time for peace, as tranquil and lengthy as it could be, could always be interrupted suddenly. Lance in hand, she hurried down the stairs, aware of possible sudden attacks.

 

Outside the inn was the young Prince she had sseen before, struggling against the hold of his two retainers.

 

“Lord Takumi, please calm yourself!” called the girl.

 

“I can’t hurt him if I tried! What do we do?!” exclaimed the samurai, grappling with all his strength to keep him from redrawing the bow in his hands.

 

“…FIND...TAKE…..” Slurred the words of Prince Takumi of Hoshido, whose head almost lolled against the side of his shoulders. He had changed sharply from the thoughtful young man that had sat beside her, idly carving out arrows and being pleasantly polite to her.

 

All at once, Azura was painfully and precisely aware of what had happened to the young prince. Purple fire wreathed him, and his empty, unconscious gaze was one that burned with a magic that she had seen before.

 

“It can’t be….but…” She shook her head. Whatever it was, explanations to where the Vallite magic had been cast could wait until later. Her thumb ran over the shard of necklace in her pockets, and in a moment, she uttered a prayer to whatever powers were listening. With a wave of her lance, Azura reached into her memories for the melody that she knew would do the trick.

 

Her voice, sharp and clear, rang out through the hearing. All of a sudden, the rain that pattered down around them began to glow. The droplets of water shone like thousands of points of blue light, circling the Prince like bright stars. Though he still thrashed against the hold of his retainers, the song and the water around them slowed him down, second by second.

 

At last, he went limp and slumped down into the arms of the swordsman.

 

It took Azura a few moments to catch her breath, knowing that that particular song was one that was dangerous to use for too often. She braced herself against the lance, planting it into the ground as she struggled back up to standing position.

 

“You better not have hurt Lord Takumi, or there will be hell to pay!” The spear fighter snapped.

 

“He’s fine…just…unconscious….” The rain continued to fall around them as gradually, Azura’s breath returned. She relished the normal speed that her heartbeat had returned to, feeling triumphant that she had staved off the inevitable in using a larger spell. It was another second chance in a long list of second chances she shouldn’t have earned.

 

Sure enough, the Prince’s eyes blinked open. And in that moment, Azura was certain that she saw something in them that she hadn’t seen in anyone else’s— vulnerability, understanding, and something like wonder.

 

A small part of her wanted anything to see that kind of expression again— on him, or on anyone that really needed her to be there for him.

 

“Wh-where am I….Hinata? What are we doing here?”

 

Suddenly, two figured zipped into view from the trees beyond the inn— one red, and one green. Before them were two Hoshidan ninja. The red-headed man was angry— angrier than anyone had Azura had ever seen. The green-haired man next to him had a serene, unreadable expression, but she knew that something about him wouldn’t hesitate to strike her if she did anything too suspicious to the Hoshidans.

 

“You had all better come with us.” The red-haired ninja’s voice was gravelly and harsh. “Queen Mikoto is going to have some questions for you. All of you.”


	3. Families and Flocks

Azura had never been face-to-face with a Hoshidan ninja. Whenever she had traveled to the kingdom in the past, they were largely something of an open secret, popular in plays and folk stories. Everyone around her had known that they existed and operated under the favors of nobles and the royal family. It was impossible to simply compare any dramatist’s imagining to one snapping out of the shadows, knife in hand, indifferent to whether her neck would be left intact or cut open by a blade.

 

Many people— men, in particular— had commented that her face was impossibly impassive in just about any situation— joyous, sorrowful, or in this case, in possible mortal peril. She had always considered it a strength. As Hoshidan soldiers watched her closely on the way to the castle, Azura was more certain than ever that to be strong meant guarding one’s feelings closely. On the few instances where she had let someone in— Corrin, Laslow, Odin and Selena— she had chosen well. But she was equally certain that one wrong choice would undo everything.

 

The story Azura told herself to keep calm was very simple— that there was nothing, really, to take. And that would be how she lived to tell the next chapter of her tale.

 

“You will not come to harm,” the green-haired man said to her.

 

“At the Queen’s orders. If I had any say…”

 

“Saizo.”Though the man’s tone was light, his words interrupted the likely violent suggestion like a finely honed blade. “I would tread lightly on just how seriously you follow her orders. Flagrant disobedience will reflect poorly on Lord Ryoma’s standing.”

 

At the even-tempered ninja’s word, the more aggressive man broke off whatever threat he had prepared with a noncommittal grunt. Mercifully, the rest of their journey to Shirasagi, up steep hills and through the town, went through mostly in silence.

 

= = =

 

 

The queen was crowned in gold and swathed in white and blue silk that, and seemed to float high above her courtiers.Curiously enough, she sat not on the enormous colorful throne itself but to a smaller, more modest seat to the side of Shirasagi’s throne room. Azura had passed through the Castle Town below sometimes to perform, but had always found the structure to be far too daunting to warrant anything more than a casual glance. Inwardly, Azura grimaced at the thought of being in a throne room once more. The last time hadn’t been a pleasant experience at all.

 

At her side were two guards. One was a stern, bespectacled man sitting atop an emormous creature— no- a machine— of wood, wires, and cloth. On the opposite side stood a fierce-looking scarred woman in sky-knight armor, wielding a wicked-looking spear. Gently sitting on a rack above the throne room were two weapons-- the Fujin Yumi and the Raijinto, the regalia that were said to be fearsomely wielded by the Queen and King, side by side, before King Sumeragi’s reign was cut tragically short.

 

Her breath caught for one second— the briefest of seconds, Azura assured herself— when she saw the young prince sitting among them. He was a reminder of what she had done, both in rescuing him and in exposing her abilities to the world that he lived in. Such a demonstration of magic came at a price— one that the queen, his stepmother, would administer. Takumi’s shoulders tensed, and he almost seemed to flinch away at her presence. But he was safe in mind and body, and that would prove the basis of her innocense— in this case, anyway.

 

“Welcome.” Despite the power that rested on her shoulders, Queen Mikoto spoke as if the occasion that they met was a pleasant greeting between hostess and guest. “When news came to me that Prince Takumi had fallen into danger, I sent help at once. And yet, he was found safe.”

 

“For that, you are owed thanks by the Kingdom of Hoshido.” She closed her eyes, smiling serenly. 

 

“I do not require thanks. This was merely what was right to do.” Azura found herself saying. She had never been one to get stage fright easily, and had performed in crowded halls and packed taverns to make enough coins to eat or find lodging for as long as she was old enough to remember lyrics or dance steps. Yet those were all occasions where she had identified what she needed to do and practiced until everything felt natural. There was no equivalent dress rehearsal in speaking to a queen.

 

“What would you ask of us?” Mikoto leaned forward in her chair. Her eyes shone with curiosity an a familiarity that unsettled Azura. She had never seen the woman before, and considered herself someone that guarded her secrets closely. Yet whatever had granted the Queen the powers of a priestess, was looking through Azura with great clarity. The retainers and soldiers of Hoshido clearly distrusted her, and for good reason. Yet their ruler wanted to keep her favor.

 

The offer had meant to be a gift, and the woman’s eyes shone with an unconditional, unfakable sort of earnestness. Anyone could see that. And yet, there was something of a test in the Queen’s question as well.

 

The safe thing to do would have been to have asked for gold and set out on her way.

 

Yet there was a reason Vallite magic had possessed the young archer-prince. And Azura, aimless and uncertain, didn’t like any of the possible reasons why. She searched for a reason to look into the source of the magic, recalling anything that would work. Finally, she found an answer and reflexively closed her hand around the invisible choice, speaking with her heart. In the dream, she soared above the Nohrian throne room on a pegasus, dashing at her assailants. Despite her regrets about those past motivations, she had wanted to relive that feeling of moving quickly and taking to the air.

 

“I wish to train with your Sky Knights for a year.”

 

At once, the stern, bespectacled retainer’s eyes narrowed in disapproval. The scarred Sky-Knight’s expression, however, spread into a bemused grin.

 

“Reina?” The Queen turned to her. “Your thoughts?”

 

“In all my years, Milady, I’ve never seen someone use a royal favor to sign themselves up for my wing. If you’ll have her, I’ll train her.” Reina’s voice was rough— someone who laughed, likely at jokes that weren’t quite appropriate for the company of nobles.

 

“Begging your pardon, but we have intelligence reports that this young woman has a history in the kingdom of Nohr,” the man curled his hands over the surface of the puppet’s head.

 

“Yukimura, please rest assured that I am reading your reports.” Queen Mikoto answered. She paused, looking throughout the hall.

 

“Well, Takumi? What do you think?”

 

= = =

 

Something was amiss about the magic that she had used, and the magic that she had fought. Takumi had seen the idea in a strategy-game somewhere, and had learned about infiltration strategies from his history books. Hoshido’s peace had, after all, been hard-fought and maintained only through the grace of a patient queen and courageous soldiers.

 

Yet nothing could have him avoid the fact that in his moment of weakness, the songstress reached in and snapped him out of possession’s grip. She had been a sympathetic person when there was no reason to pretend, and he was simply an anonymous young man on a hunting trip through the forest.

 

Most irrationally, some part of him was compelled to speak to her again, if only to get the answers he needed about what had really happened in the forest. He had awoken to a splitting headache and a great deal of regret. Azama, one of his sister’s retainers, would likely have had a word about temperence and wine. Thankfully, the priest with jokester-like tendencies was not present to offer his thoughts on Takumi’s present state.  


“She owes Hoshido no loyalty. And Nohr does not seek to capture her. Is that correct?” Takumi looked Yukimura, Hoshido’s top strategist, in the eye. If the man had serious reasons to distrust Azura, he would have incessently talked Mikoto out of it already. Yet hesitation remained in the older man’s eyes, suggesting that his case was less than rock solid.

 

“Correct,” managed Yukimura.

 

Takumi turned to the Queen and gave her a nod. Yet below the calm demeanor that he had kept together for the sake of the courtiers, his emotions roiled with uncertainty. Most prominently, he was angry that he had given away so easily to whatever powers lurked within the mountains that day. Yielding in whatever manner, be it training or battle or a simple test of wills, was shame itself. After the court had convened, he would run or meditate or practice shinai sparring with Hinata. Something, anything had to take his mind off the idea of losing.

 

“Excellent. So you’ll be able to take Azura on a tour of the castle.” Beamed the Queen.

 

That hadn’t been a part of the plan at all. He opened his mouth to protest.

 

“Hinoka will join the two of you at the practice grounds. I’m sure that she’ll be elated to meet a new recruit.” With a soft smile, Queen Mikoto gathered her things, gesturing to her attendants and the courtiers in a motion of dismissal.

 

As the hall emptied, he found himself face-to-face with the biggest reminder of his failure. She was fine-featured, lean, golden-eyed, and wrapped in a dress that gave her the appearance of a swan about to take flight. And yet, there was a sharpness to Azura that started conversations, no matter how great the risk there was of getting cut apart by her words— magical or otherwise.

 

“Let’s get going.” Takumi got up, and tried not to make eye contact for too long. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

 

 

 

 


	4. Fair Winds

It wasn’t until they had walked through a great collection of Shirasagi Palace’s rooms that Azura realized she didn’t know much about its inhabitants at all.

 

It was a cavernous complex that was far larger and more richly furnished than Nohr’s high palace, where its king reigned in relatively spare surroundings. Delicate pieces porcelain was carefully nestled in alcoves, and paintings with detailed painted down to individual blades of grass adorned screen doors and wall scrolls lining its corridors of wood polished to a high sheen. The faint scent of of fresh flowers ,twisted and placed into complex colorful arrangement, wafted through the air. She had been accustomed to far plainer inns, eating-houses, and theaters, wondering idly what it would sound like if she were to put on a performance within any of the palace’s rooms.

 

Despite the opulent wealth that the Queen had placed around her castle and her reputation as a kind ruler, there were few people that walked within the private quarters in the span of the afternoon they spent strolling through it.Azura had yet to see other members of the family that she treasured, aside from her reluctant tour guide. He had been largely sullen throughout the meeting, and had said little during it, frustrating any intentions she had of getting more information about the curse that had plagued him. Immediately, she wanted to know everything so that she could find where it had appeared from.

 

“Are you alright, after what had happened in the mountains?” She asked, trying simply to start a conversation. Takumi turned, stopping mid-explanation of a garden with all the enthusiasm of an uneager student reciting something mandatory.

 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” his tone was clipped.

 

Curious, thought Azura. She changed tactics.“Then may I ask:why did you speak out for me?” She asked, pretending to be fascinated in an arrangement of autumnal crysanthemums as a maidservant walked past. She received only a hesitant silence as a response. Perhaps the memory was still too fresh. There were the stricken expressions of his retainers when he had attacked, possessed by something nonoe of them knew of.

 

In truth, Valla held many secrets that were kept from her, as well. But the Hoshidans didn’t need to know that, if the secrets she did know kept her safe.

 

Unfortunately, Valla hadn’t kept anyone around her safe, and had taken the life of a mage that had pledged to serve her. The other two mysterious mercenaries had scattered in the days that had followed the strange dream that was Azura’s attempt to strike at Nohr. Her enmity towards the dusk-lit kingdom had faded, but the price of her mistakes did not.

 

“You fought for me when you didn’t have to.” Takumi didn’t look at her as he said it, which she chalked up to someone who had an immense sense of pride in his own abilities, and no one else’s. That independence that stuck to him stubbornly was the one trait that she didn’t have to work hard to understand, unlike everything else about the obstinate archer. “And I don’t like having debts go unpaid.”

 

“If I didn’t do anything, you would have hurt a lot of people.” Azura answered, still hesitant to do anything with the way that he had looked at her once the spell had been broken. “And neither you nor the people around you deserved that. ”

 

The unprompted declaration of her duty, and of owing something to someone was strange on her tongue, like lyrics with an origin that she couldn’t quite trace back. It was soothing, in the midst of uncertainty and times when she didn’t feel safe, to look back towards music. It alone was the rope that she had used time again to haul herself back into being.

 

“I have another question,” she asked.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Why are your retainers following us like that?”

 

The spear fighter and samurai in question, who had been hiding poorly behind a door, immediately collapsed in a heap.

 

“Ow, geez, Oboro, your elbow is going to take an eye out!”

 

“You wanted to try to see clearer, it’s not my fault—”

 

“AHEM,” Takumi glared over at his most trusted confidants, knowing full well that he had wanted to make a better impression on Azura than he had. “Should I be asking why the two of you have suddenly attempted to play ninja?”

 

“We were worried sick!” Hinata piped up. “All of a sudden, one of the men came back and was yelling about you.”

 

“Did everything go alright with Queen Mikoto?” Asked Oboro.

 

“…Yes.” The prince’s answer was short. “We still don’t know what exactly caused that. But know this.” He clapped his hands on the shoulders of the sword and spear fighter. “I would never hurt either of you, and this can’t happen again.” Azura pursed her lips at the words, feeling simultaneously out of place yet familiar with having said something along the same lines. But where Hoshido’s prince was relatively innocent and free from guilt, she was not.

 

“So what’s the deal with her?” asked Hinata, noticing Azura’s presence among them.

 

“I’m taking her to Mother’s Sky Knight captain to register as one of them.”

 

“With Reina? Wow, you’re in for an…experience…” Oboro wrinkled her nose. “She keeps asking me for reccommendations for ‘blood-resistant fabric’. Who _does_ that?”

 

“Perhaps,” suggested Azura. “She’s simply practical about fighting?”

 

“Ehhhh, You could say that,” Hinata warily observed. “But I think she’s someone you had better meet for yourself. Later, Lord Takumi. I’ve got a sparring appointment.”

 

“And I’ve got a fitting to do for Princess Hinoka.” Oboro set off as well with a cheery wave.”, Let me know if you need any cute Hoshidan outfits. I’ll give you a discount.” As quickly as they were discovered, Takumi’s retainers had departed.

 

“They’re…energetic.” She observed. Hoshido’s royal retainers appeared to be far more close-knit than their Nohrian counterparts. They gossipped easily, and spoke without care to the charges that they served.

 

“Don’t I know it,” Takumi grinned, leading her onwards. “Now, there’s going to be a bit of a climb before we get to the pegasi stables. So I hope you’re ready for a hike.”

 

= = =

 

“Pegasi don’t move as suddenly as Wyverns. They are not like Kinshi, which take far more time and effortto tame,” explained Reina, the veteran Sky Knight that commanded Hoshido’s many wing platoons. “Think of how a horse might move, and add the fact that it glides up, slicing through the air like the blade of a naginata.” Her grin widened at the mention of a weapon. She was brushing the mane of a young winged colt among a flock of the pegasi on the hilltop stable. Though Shirasagi Castle itself was perched uponmountain, the Kinshi birds and pegasi favored by Hoshido’s sky-knights liked to dwell in the highest altitude places possible. Azura gazed upon the creatures roaming the skies with trainees carefully guiding them. A few even sparred with dulled lances or bamboo practice bows.

 

“We have a few archers here. Should you ever want to give fighting from a Kinshi a try, Prince Takumi, the doors here, so to speak, are open.” Reina grinned. She gestured at one of the large birds tied to a stall. 

 

“If I break my neck, you’re the one that has to tell my mother.” He shrugged. Still, there was a wondrous sight of seeing arrows rain from the sky that proved to be surprising to foes, particularly if the bow in question was the Fujin Yumi itself.

 

“Alright—One additional thing before your training begins,” the knight raised her index finger. She turned and looked Azura in the eye.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Should you at any point try to cause harm to our kingdom or our queen, let me explain exactly what I will be doing to you and your human remains when I findout.”

 

As Reina continued, Azura glanced over and saw that Takumi, who was listening, had turned the slightest shade of green adn clutched at his sides. Reina, it seemed, had liked to add gestures to her very vivid descriptions of what she did to traitors. Accustomed to saltier language in taverns ranging from Hoshido to Cheve, Azura pretended to ake it seriously, but said nothing.

 

“That sounds fair,”When the Kinshi Knight had finished, Azura assented and was given a small passcard to the soldiers’ dormitories and the training grounds, and a token for a few basic supplies.She then leaned over to the sickly-looking prince.

 

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “If that happens. I’m not the one that has to tell your mother.” Though she wouldn’t tell him, she committed the sound of his laughter to memory. It was a precious thing, to be able to invoke something in others that wasn’t fear. And when it came to Takumi, she was curious to see what the days ahead would be like. Even Reina joined in, guffawing.

 

“And here I thought you were some delicate princess. You’re going to do just fine.”

 

She wasn’t entirely wrong, thought Azura. But better to keep that set of secrets under wraps for just a little while longer. At least until she properly knew who in the kingdom of light could properly keep a secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Resident murder aunt Reina is going to be one of the reasons this story is rated teen and up.


	5. Fragments of a Dream

The dull thud of his heartbeat alerted Takumi as his eyes flew open, feeling the crunch of wet crass below him as he combed his fingers through dew. As Takumi sat up in the field, he felt a chill wind sweep across his face. Looking down, he found himself in his hunting gear, shielded from the cold from the neck down and dressed for a fight. In his hands was the Fujin Yumi, the weapon that had chosen first Queen Mikoto, and then him, as its wielders. The scale of the place was dizzying, as if he had stumbled into something far larger than he had ever known. For reasons he could not place, the dream— if it was a dream, anyways— terrified him. In other ways, the island was comfortable, representing the infinite possibilites that illusions could bring.

 

As Takumi looked up, he found only features of the new land that unsettled him further. He furrowed his brow, studying the features beyond the field where he stood.

 

All around him, pieces of Shirasagi palace— a place that he knew better than anyone— floated by, lolling about like vegetables in a thick soup. The ground beneath him was ordinary grass and mud, the same as it ever was in the waking world. Yet the sky above was the color of a storm, and held countless islands that also appeared to be put together from cut-apart buildings, hillsides, roadways and trees. It was as if Hoshido itself had been sliced apart by blades and suspended before him, tauning his knowledge of his homeland and spitting it back out defiantly. Could a spell even taunt? He wasn’t certain, but there was a sinister quality to it.

 

Ever since childhood, Takumi had slept poorly. Try as he might, he had never figured out the root causes behind the exhaustion that weighed him down so much that would cause him to lay awake at night, tossing and turning through bouts of troubled dreams. It was a problem that he had never confided in anyone with, save the Queen, Sakura and Orochi, his mother’s attendant and one of the court’s potions-brewing diviners. All three had tried every sleeping draught they knew, and had never quite taken care of whatever mysterious fatigue plagued him.

 

Disease had taken King Sumeragi and Queen Ikona, and despite her empathy and wisdom, Queen Mikoto had been coronated to rule a kingdom that was prone to falling into the hands of conspirators, assailants, and other forces that would pillage what their honest people had worked for. Even at a young age, Takumi was certain of what they had to protect, their new ruler included. In the following days, Takumi had taken every effort to try to become strronger to do just that. And yet, his nights remained troubled and restless.

 

But nothing he had experienced in years of nights riddled with restlessness had he seen anything like this.

 

There was a flash of pale blue somewhere within the mixed-up archipelago. Though Takumi was certain of nothing, he knew that color, and had seen it while awake. Following the streak of color, he shouldered the bow at his side and set off towards what he knew would hold the answers that he sought, taking care to take cover behind trees or larger features.

 

As quickly as he warmed up before chasing after any quarry, his instincts brought his sluggish limbs to life. Takumi settled into a crouch, breath quickening as he closed in. There was no need to draw his bow, for he knew exactly what— or who— he chased. The color of her hair and the movements were all information that, as he approached, became more and more familiar. He leapt over, at last, landing on another floating island where the person he had been pursuing was right next to him. If anyone would have the answers to the place that the dream had taken him, it was her.

 

Azura was perched in a small grove of trees, with the strange golden lance she had taken from Nohr laid flat besides her. Her eyes closed in something that looked like meditation. In the little time Takumi had known her, he was certain that she would regard the place they were in just as she would the ordinary world. She had an unshakeable calmness to her movements, and a voice that he was certain that if he wasn’t careful, it’d shatter a lesser-restrained person’s heart into pieces. Not that he had considered that sort of a voice having any effect on a man as rational as he, of course.

 

“Azura?” asked Takumi, in as soft a voice he could muster. Unlike the quarry that he usually chased, she wasn’t someone he had wanted to scare away.

 

He hadn’t meant to startle her, but her eyes flew open from the meditative state, her breath jolting awake in a sharp gasp.

 

“What are you doing here—how did you find me?” And in two quick turns of phrase, he had received lan answer and written three new questions in their place.

 

= = =

 

The world that she entered in dreams never looked exactly the same each time slumber overtook Azura and she found herself falling through reality into another place entirely.

 

The dream-world liked to take pieces of where she fell asleep as well, in order to build the palaces, gardens, chambers, and sometimes wildernesses that Azura wandered through. For Shirasagi, the gem shard had conjured colorful red and white walls. Polished floor planks that looked like they had been pulled apart floated in suspended animation as uprooted pine trees favored by the Hoshidans drifted lazily to and fro. It was lovely and serene— far lovelier than the remains of her Valla, which would only exist in pieces, never made whole by reality, barring any sort of miracle.

 

“This is a place locked off from those that do not have the magic to access it.” She had been startled before, and in the aftermath was able to pull her mask of impassiveness back on. Takumi had to be no different from anyone else.

 

“Why do you have access to it?” The prince looked around cautiously, moving about the scrap of land where they stood. He was curious but ever-cautious, as if something dangerous was out just beyond the horizon.

 

Well, thought she, he hadn’t been exactly wrong. But there was still apphrehension that stood between her and any answers she was willing to give.

 

“That’s a—”

 

Her answer—well, carefully prepared non-answer, really— was interrupted by the fluttering of enormous wings that both of them knew to be from a pegasus, which loomed over them. The silhouette of a warrior wielding a naginata loomed, and struck hard at one of the stone lanterns in the garden where they both stood. It shattered, raining rubble across the previously peaceful place where Azura had sat meditating.

 

“Get behind me.” Instantly, Takumi pulled her close and shielded her from view. She smelled the sharp smell of pine rosin and had a fleeting temptation to bury her fingers in the side of his coat. Shedding the temptation, she took up the lance in her hands and watched the horizon for more incoming foes.

 

“Tell me where she is.”

 

Azura frowned. The world wasn’t ever as hostile as it was today, and most days she could dispatch whatever nightmares had been sent her way. Yet if the universe was going to hand her an ally, the best way to go about it was to put him to work.

 

“She’s off to the side. Aim there, past the leftmost lantern.”

 

As Takumi’s fingers drew the bowstrings taut, a bolt of light shone into being, pulled from air and the sheer fortitudue of the young prince. He took aim and shot out into the horizon. Even in an uncertain place, she like that certainty that caused him to grin when the arrow struck a foe off in the distance. The invisible pegasus knight foe, who was speeding towards them steadily, plummetted off into the abys.

 

“No time to celebrate. They’ve got backup.” Azura pointed towards another island floating off in the distance. It sported a tall cement wall covered in ivy, and was a feature that didn’t quite match the Hoshidan buildings in the area where they stood.“We’ll need to get to that spot. The walls there will buy us some time.”

 

“How do we do that?” He asked.Something she couldn’t quite place had been set in motion, and despite looming danger, Azura felt a charge run through her that drew her attention to two truths: that she was alive and capable.

 

“Well, clearing that distance isn’t quite as impossible here.” At the end of the garden stood a lantern with a dim orange glow to it. Azura laid a hand on it and felt the blood of the dragon in her veins sing through the vein in the sky-island, commanding the Vallite land that would be hers, if only for the hours from dusk until dawn. There was a rumbling beneath their feet as something far below the destroyed garden rose up and slammed into the island. One by one, stone steps linked together. As the din of the slabs forming the bridge cleared, Azura getured to the completed path.

 

More pegasi, half invisible and tireless and carrying assailants emerged from surrounding islands. They were flanked, too, by wyvern riders of Vallite origin. As they scrambled up towards the walled islet for cover, she saw Takumi begin to climb up an outcropping, eyeing their foes without so much as a shadow of a doubt. They charged towards them flying tirelessly, as if propelled by a force that worked beyond life and death itself. No matter how many of them Takumi had shot down, the waves of enemies in flight emerged from the depths of the nightmre.

 

Even in an otherworldy place, he was a lone archer, facing down countless foes flying towards them. He would tire, and his aim would falter. There would be someone that would get the better of him, and he would suffer blows of the onslaught of attacks. And regardless of the fluidity of reality in the dream-Valla that trapped them, the night could end with him lying dead if he wasn’t careful. If she wasn’t careful, too.

 

But he wasn’t alone, and Azura was certain that whatever the reason that he had been thrown into the world of her dreams, she wouldn’t let the nightmares there take him. Of that, she was certain.

 

She sang. Her voice rang out clearly, weaving the magic from the stone shard in her hand into an invigorating song that she had used time and again. It had been some time since Azura had sang anything besides the occasional ballad, and even longer since she had sung something earnestly. As the notes rang out throughout the walled outcropping, she noticed Takumi’s eyes flicker to her.

 

In an instant, Azura was certain that she saw an expression wonder cross his usually-serious countenence, and again it seized some sentimental part of her she hadn’t quite buried. Then his stance relaxed and his eyes refocused. As he drew breath, he took ahold of the yumi in his hands and materialized not one, but a handful of arrows at once, firing them skyward. As the arrows plummeted back down, they strucktheirintended targets like bolts of fire that heaven itself had sent.

 

“It’s over…” the young archer’s breathing was labored as he slumped over a flat part of the wall. “That’s the last of them. I….How did you…?”

 

“There are many things that my songs can make possible. But you were the one that chose to fight back.” Azura answered. “And for that, we are safe.” She smiled, and knew that it was a genuine one, having seen someone refuse to back down against something impossible. It was a testament to perserverence that she hadn’t seen in quite some time. To her delight, it was a smile that Takumi returned, rarely given but earnest and true.

 

Just like that, the dream had ended. His face was the last time that Azura saw before day broke, and she awoke alone in the quarters of the Sky Knights. For countless nights, she had known exactly where she would go to ruminate on the memories of her kingdom. Whatever had brought the strange young prince and the bow he wielded into that silence must have had a reason. 

 

 

 


	6. A Queen's Words

The cold morning of the practice grounds chilled every trainee to the bone, including their newest miserable addition. Standing in a row, they waited listlessly for the commander to show up and lead them through the first set of the day’s drills. Azura had learned in a very difficult fashion that because her necklace had been reduced to a small lump of crystal, its magic had become far less potent— protection from cold included. Yet as much as she hated it, there was something incredibly liberating about reconnecting with what Valla— its duties, and its burdens— had taken from her.

 

Azura frowned as she inspected the crystal in her hands once more. It looked a bit larger than she had seen it last, when it was in her hands and aglow with power. She had started to sing again, certain and sure— not using the most potent of magic, but something to give a boost to another fighter.

 

It was frightening, how she wanted to take ahold of the moment of certainty when she had sung to Takumi, how he had leapt out past the wall that shielded them, and fired arrow after arrow without hesitation. The sight of it was a vision that played in her head over and over, like a snippet from a ballad that would prove to be popular with just about any audiences. Something glorious, bright, and new.

 

Her heartbeat quickened, a sudden warm jolt that kicked at her, at the thought of seeing him again. Then, just as succinctly, it twisted and shapeshifted into anxiety-ridden doubt, wondering if he would be afraid of what had happened to them in the dream. Despite whatever strange, unexplained fondness Azura had, letting Takumi completely in was far too dangerous an act to begin with.

 

As if on cue, the thought of danger conjured up the most dangerous-looking woman in Hoshido that Azura had ever seen.

 

“Nothing warms my heart more than seeing my Sky Knights up, ready, and already fighting against the trials of nature.” Commander Reina’s voice boomed across the flat plateau where they and their mounts stood. In the previous days, Azura had selected a quiet-looking pegasus named Apollo, who stood indifferently to the side nibbling oats with his brethren.

 

A knight with fire-red hair slammed the butt of her practice lance against the ground, and ferociously exclaimed, “I fear nothing, Commander Reina! A little cold isn’t going to bother me!”

 

“Well said, Lady Hinoka,” commented a snide-looking taller man who had tied his long hair back. “I am certain your sparring will be perfect, as usual.”

 

Grinning, Reina turned to someone who was not among their ranks, but was wandering up the mountain. A priest was wandering up the mountain, a large bamboo basket strapped on his back, presumably on his way from the palace to look for herbs.

 

“Well, Azama? Would you have any words of wisdom to impart on my three fine trainees?” Reina leaned on her lance, glancing lazily towards where the priest stood. Hinoka shook her head fervently, her eyes wide with alarm, but to no avail. Their sanguine commander was curious, and something told Azura that nothing would satisfy that curiosity without an answer.

 

“Death comes for us eventually, my friends,” answered the monk with a beatific grin. “Therefore, no amount of training can prepare any of you for the end!”

 

As he continued down the path after bidding farewell to the Princess he served, Reina let out a short bark of laughter.

 

“I like him,” she concluded. “He’s a keeper of a retainer, Lady Hinoka. You take good care of him.” In one elegant gesture, though, the commander drew her spear and settled into a fighting stance.

 

“Like I have a choice,” the princess shook her head. “But he’s…useful in his own ways. Let’s get to practicing.” She slung her spear over her shoulder and eyed the others with a confident grin.

 

“Right you are. Pair off and start the drills we went over yesterday.”

 

Azura saw the tough-looking knight meet her gaze, before pairing off with the taller man— Subaki, she had heard him called. Finding another newer trainee, she leveled the blunted practice lance, took a deep breath, and began. If it took a thousand attempts at beginning anew to remake herself, to build out the discipline she sought, she would try just to gain the discipline to do just that.

 

= = =

 

The cool alcove of trees were said to bloom beautifully in spring, according to Hinoka. But out of season, all they were was a place to rest during the Sky Knights’ midday break. Azura found a spot underneath a corner of the grove. Besides her, she saw Hinoka, Subaki, and a few samurai and spear fighters who trained down the mountain take out wrapped rice balls and small wrapped boxes of food similar to her own rations. Though she had talked a while with them, Azura found that soon there wasn’t much to say. They were people that belonged to Hoshido, blandly kind but ultimately unsure of what to make of her.

 

“You must have had all sorts of adventures traveling. I’d like to fly places on my pegasus once I start getting sent on missions more.” Hinoka grinned.

 

“Well….” Azura trailed off. “I’ve been able to learn a great deal of things about Nohr.”

 

That was the problem that most of her conversations ran into when the subject inevitably arrived at Valla, and its stainline presence on her memories rendering her tongue-tied on all but the most benign details. 

 

“I don’t like the look of some of them,” commented Oboro. “My parents have been getting more orders from Nohrians traveling through on repairs, and their archers…mm, they look a bit shady to me.” She grimaced, an expression creeping onto her face that startled Azura a little bit

 

“Wouldn’t our ninja look shady to outsiders, though? They sneak around, perform missions…and assassinating targets?!” A young soldier exclaimed. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of one of their assignments.” He twisted the cloth wrap of his lunchbox somewhat anxiously.

 

“Don’t worry about it.” Hinoka piped up, biting into a slice of cake slathered in honey and fresh fruit. “As long as Hoshido is kept safe, I think we can all take pride in what we can do to protect it.”

 

Nobody had ever told Azura just what sort of work it took toknow other people other than through observing them for a performance. She understood them just fine. It was getting involved in the lives of others that was the troublesome part. The problem, at the end the conversation, was that they belonged to places that she couldn’t. But just because that was the case for her didn’t mean that that was the end of the story.

 

“It’s wonderful that you can take that kind of pride in working together,” she said, as the others packed away their belongings and started back up towards the training grounds. “I can see why the Commander is so proud of you.”

 

At the compliment, the princess lit up, clearly pleased with the compliment. “Ah, well, that’s nothing. Anyone can talk,” Hinoka observed. “Trying to live up to what you say takes a lot more, doesn’t it?” She clapped Azura on the shoulder, and grinned.

 

“Indeed,” agreed Azura. “I hope I can know what everyone’s ideals are in the coming days.” The victory was a small one and the resolution just as slight, but if that was the work she needed to do to not face the kingdom alone, then the part was hers to try to learn.

 

= = =

 

The tip of the bladed throwing-knife was inches from Azura’s throat. She glanced down and saw the weapon gleam, then met the gazes of the two men before her.

 

“I looked back into the reports,” Yukimura spoke as if their conversation was a pleasant one between two allies, as opposed to someone on the verge of executing a suspected traitor. “And did you know, Azura of Valla, that there is information that could not be stamped out by the Nohrians?”

 

He ambled through the grove, still perched atop the enormous wooden puppet. Still standing beside Azura, nearly pinning her to a tree was Saizo, who looked impassive. He was acting on orders, but she could see his arm tense as he held out a sharp iron shuriken.

 

“You cannot keep a secret when you decide to attack a room packed with soldiers. Eventually,” Yukimura concluded, “someone talks.”

 

That much was true enough. And if she was asked at that moment whether the action was regrettable, Azura would have denied so until her dying breath. But it did not matter how much she had wanted to change since then. Not when someone was willing to draw a weapon to judge her on what she had done. So she stayed silent.

 

“What if,” drawled the strategist, “Prince Takumi was going to find out more about those little excursions of yours? He has every right to know, to keep this kingdom safe.”

 

Her arm lashed out as if it moved on its own, drawing the lance at her back and striking as hard as she could. Thoughthe weapon Azura wielded was nothing but her practice lance, the force of the blow came as a surprise to Saizo, who leapt back. Though the drills of a sky-knight were still mostly alien to her, the spear was a weapon that Queen Arete herself had drilled her in. Almost instantaneously, Saizo sunk into a fighting crouch, reading another shuriken. This time, she was certain he wouldn’t hold back.

 

“That’s enough!” snapped a woman’s voice. A glowing arrow, fired from a bow that Azura knew to be divine, pierced through the grove of trees, lodging itself into the trunk of an ancient pine, leaving singe marks in its wake. Both Hoshidans looked up. At the top of the garden steps was Queen Mikoto and Orochi the diviner, who was scowling and reading something glowing on one of her scrolls. It was the last thing that Azura had needed, for them to see her threatening a high-ranking official with her cheeks flushed in anger, her heart thumping as fast as the high-tempo Nestran songs that a former patron of hers had adored.

 

Why had Yukimura’s last question gotten such a rise out of her?

 

“You will do well to remember that once the Prince or I command that someone is to be welcomed into the court, that they are not to be interrogated without reason.”

 

The authority of a Queen rendered all things quiet. Azura had chased after it, but in that moment, she realized that she had known nothing at all. Everything that had tested her had, frustratingly, thrown her back to the beginning ceaselessly.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

She realized then that Queen Mikoto remained. She had, while the songstress wasn’t looking, dismissed her attendents. The two of them had been left alone in the garden, now with a scorch mark-ridden tree and the signs of battle. Quickly, Azura reached for the wrappings of her practice spear and began to look for a way to leave.

 

“I am unharmed. Th-thank you.”

 

It had been years since her voice faltered, and she was never one to think that stage fright came to her easily. Yet the Queen was imposing— not in a blatant way, but in a manner that would prove unyielding if tested by difficulties.

 

“They should not have done that. I will have a talk with Yukimura and reconsider our information.” Looking around, Mikoto’s eyes fell on a small cord that tied together the lance’s wrap-cloth. She handed it over to Azura, smiling gently. There was a hint of something familiar in Mikoto’s countenence that unnerved her, reaching past the facade of her Sky-Knight training and scrutinizing what she had done in the supposed service of Valla.

 

Neither the Queen nor her children had been anything like what Azura had heard about them within the town below the castle. But then again, it wasn’t quite wise to simply believe what others would say about their rulers. She would never tell anyone the truth if Valla still stood. But there had to be a reason why here and now, the Queen defended her. Takumi was someone who would act rashly, and he had the curse tying him to the dream-world. But Mikoto had no such reasons.

 

“I wish to speak to you again, your Majesty. If you will allow me a few moments of your time.” Warily, Azura glanced to the monarch, her eyes cautiously looking about for more spies. But something had told her that the Queen’s command, as much as it may have rested on potentially shaky grounds, was obeyed.

 

“I will see to it that it is done. There is much for us to speak about, Azura.” As Mikoto nodded, she patted her on the arm gently as she departed.

 

Before she ascended the steps and turned past the stone lanterns that led into the palace, the Queen stpped. “Oh, and do be careful with your pendant. You are safe here, but its songs have a mind of their own, don’t they?”

 

It was a question with answers that Azura had thought nobody else in the world had known. She felt the crystal in her pockets almost pulse to life at the question, playing out a jumbled, incomprehensible note. But like the words of Queen Mikoto and the schemes of her skeptical advisor, they carried a sheathed warning. There were days ahead where she would have to tread far more carefully.


	7. Weapon of Choice

Valla’s silence calmed Azura even though she knew fully well that her body was tired from a day’s worth of relentless drills under the Hoshidan Sky knights. With sluggish limbs, she picked herself up and slung the golden lance over her shoulder. For several nights, she had either slept dreamlessly or had spent her time in the dreamworld alone. Though Hoshido brought her a new place to rest temporarily and put a lance back into her hands, it had not brought answers that she sought.

 

The wonderfully cool feel of the wild-growing Vallan grass underneath her feet, however imagined they were, was a welcome respite to the well-kept gardens of Castle Shirasagi. Staring out from an outcropping, Azura imagined what the palace must have once looked like, when the kingdom was whole and her family ruled in its halls. In some time, in some place, there was a kingdom that had a place carved out for her that she didn’t have to wedge her way into. Nohr was a tempting prospect, but a failed one.And thanks to an irritating dragon of Valla that had entered her life in unexpected ways, the question of whether they ruled well or not plagued Azura continuously.

 

The question of the kingdom’s true nature remained on her mind as she fought back dream-phantoms, and reaad ancient etchings that were conjured half from memory and half from the magic of her slowly reforming necklace. Good or bad, the rites were hers in a way that anything she had picked up in the waking world was not.

 

The pale stone walls under her fingers felt almost real as she softly tapped the stone pendant against a carving. In quieter nights, she had been piecing together a story of her mother that had been etched in Vallan into its surfaces. Azura hadn’t known that Queen Arete had a sister, and wanted to know more about the mysterious woman that had never come up in conversations when her mother was alive. Just about every conversation she had had with Arete were short and sudden, snatched away in moments in Nohr. More often than not, her mother was shielding her from something or someone that was trying to drive them out. She had wished in the years after Arete had perished for more time, by any means necessary. That was when the pendant had come into her life.

 

She stared down at the necklace remnants resting in the herat of her palm, reforming slowly in a placid pool of blue stone and Vallan magic. It was almost half-finished already, and growing back, piece by piece.

 

Azura’s ruminations were interrupted by the sudden crack of something that flew her way, quickly and sharply. The air around her filled with the scent of something acrid, like milk that had soured and been subsequently burnt.

 

She narrowed her eyes, alert. Both scent and sound were a refrain that Azura had recalled before. But in that instance, it had happened in the waking world, and she had averted a small disaster. In the days that had passed since she had last seen Takumi, she was certain that she would have something of an ally to fight at her side, strong and confident. The unfortunate truth of their current encounter, though, left her thinking that he needed to be wrenched out of darkness more than anyting else. 

 

The Prince standing before her wasn’t the pleasant, strange young man she had taken her through the castle or had protected her the last time they had met. He was, without a doubt, the demon that had posssessed him in the mountains. His mind was somewhere else as flames of purple wreathed him, pupils blank and distant. The bow at Takumi’s side looked a little like the glowing relic that he wielded with ease, but was bone-white, crackling with dark fire across itssurface, and hummed with an infernal energy. It mimicked the shape of the Fujin Yumi, but only at a glance.

 

Her mind tumbled the lyrics together, thinking desperately to something that would work. If the magic was strong enough to conjure a bow, it required words to the music of the spell.

 

_You at the Crossroads of Light_

_Desperately seeking penance for the sins your hand has sown_

_One way of Peace, one of Might_

_Twist and twine, testing your skills of reknown_

 

. Azura looked up, hoping it had done the trick.

 

It had, but only for a moment. The song’s opening earned her nothing but a pained screech from Takumi, who clutched at his head for a moment Lowering her head, she dodged an arrow, running towards the nearest spot where the island was cleft in two. In pursuit was the possessed young archer, still growling something unintelligible. Catching her breath, Azura held the stone aloft, trying again. The melody of the song was carved into her like the lines of her body. All she had to do was think up the right lyrics. She looked around her at the ruins of Valla that her mind and her magic had conjured up, and continued:

 

_In Watery Depths_

_A Crown of Fallen Kings_

_Carrying power beyond sun and shade_

_Rests and waits to be found and worn_

_After centuries of histories torn_

 

The words tumbled from her one after the other, and fear suddenly seized her heart. The necklace once again was giving her directions on how to move, how to change pitch, and how to feel. Blue light glowed from droplets of water that swirled around her. Azura knew the price of such magic. It had taken her, and sought to use her voice and her lance arm to conquer.

 

Still, whatever powers were at play had taken Takumi. And try as she might, she had to beat whatever prophesized horrors wanted to take them. Feeling certain, Azura took her lance, planting it in the ground. The plan was a risky one, but would buy her time. She ducked behind a nearby boulder, hoping that the weapon would draw Takumi’s attention. He had seen her run with the weapon, and used it to find just where she chose to hide.

 

A slight grin crept onto her face as she heard the sound of arrow clangs against the surface of the lance, sneaking across the surface of the islet away from where the weapon had been placed. At last, she closed the distance between her and the possessed prince, grabbing his arms and holding the stone aloft. With one arm, Azura held his bow at bay. With the other, she held up the pendant, now blazing with a light that almost to hurt at. She gave herself to the power, but pushed against its pull to take every island in the dream-world down with them. No matter what, that was a price she was unwilling to pay again.

 

This time, the lyrics of the song finished out whatever prophecy the pendant needed her to hear.

 

_Sing with me a song that diverges in twain_

_Final choices made by the moon’s wane_

_Cutting through the sorrows long past_

_Sudden and sharp, lingering wounds healed at last_

 

She squeezed her eyes shut, terrified at what the song and its magic would do. The lyrics were words that she changed out as easily as the seasons changed. The music, though, pulled at Azura in a way that nothing else ever could do. It twisted from her and reshaped everything around her.

 

As she lifted her head to watch what had happened, she heard Takumi’s breathing slow down from the frenetic pace of an animal in frenzy. Her heartbeat thudded in her ears as she lowered her arm and backed away from him.

 

When she was close enough to look into Takumi’s eyes, she saw no trace of supernatural light or unnatural coloring. He was drenched in sweat, tired and unsettled, but back to his usual quiet, stern self. The skeletal-looking bow dropped and fell to the ground with a quiet _clack_ , fading into its surroundings in a burst of purple flame.

 

“Another close call,” she remarked, uncertain if she was irritated with him or relieved more. A part of her was pleased as well, but her next words were cut off as Takumi seized her wrist and pulled her to him. It wasn’t an affectionate embrace of any sort, and he had the movements of someone lumbering out of a deep nightmare-ridden slumber, all arythmic breathing and clammy skin. Azura knew that, and yet, a small part of her reveled knowing that he was relieved to see her and her alone. It was a disgusting, selfish feeling to have, to have Vallan magic trap her someone who would understand her. And equally disgusting to be in a position where she knew she was at her weakest, and did not retreat somewhere more remote to recover alone.

 

“I…I saw two bows before me when I woke up.” Takumi’s steadied himself. He stepped back and braced his hands on his knees. “My Fujin Yumi, and another weapon. Easy choice, right?”“But over and over again, I thought…why not try taking the other one?” He groaned softly, clutching his temples. “What if that’s the weapon that helps me charge past my limits?”

 

Takumi was more of a fool than Azura had thought, even if he demonstrated streaks of wisdom from time to time when it came to the matters of Hoshido. But Valla wasn’t Hoshido, and its weapons were not lways forged from the iron and steel wielded by the Hoshidans.

 

“Prince Takumi, this world is far too dangerous to e a place where you break your usual routines,” She allowed the usual iciness to creep back into her tone. He deserved it, in a small way. “If you choose to be reckless here, you will put yourself in danger.” And me as well, she had wanted to add. But that wasn’t the sort of athing a calm-headed prophetess would say whenever they wanted.

 

“Well, I know now, and—” He peered at her, and brushed a thumb against the side of her face. “Wait, is that a cut? From an arrow?”

 

Trying desperately to properly ignore the jolt of heat that ran through her, Azura nodded. It was a far headier feeling than being struck by a weapon, dulling her senses in a way that she simultaneously worried about and wanted to sustain for as long as possible. 

 

“Did I attack you again?” The look that he gave her was enough to cause heartbreak in a woman with a weaker will.

 

“You did,” Azura answered coolly. 

 

Takumi bit back an exasperated groan. “Just what sort of witchcraft is going on here?!” He demanded.

 

“Valla has never granted power without a price,” she turned away from him, apprehensive about how he would see her. She didn’t want him to. “That’s something I’ve had to learn the hard way.” With some reluctance, she took the stone from her pockets and held it out for him to see. Already the chain had re-formed and the stone was set in a simple bordered pendant. Soon it woul d grow in size and return to its old ornate appearance. It was only a matter of time of when Azura would need to sing the melody linked to it once more.

 

“What did you have to give up, if it wasn’t your will?”

 

“Oh, I do,” she fixed her gaze on the illusory horizon of another floating island, wanting to have a better answer. “The spell on this necklace is too strong to work otherwise.”

 

Nobody had ever fully known the extent to which she, her magic, and the necklace had worked. Nohr was her greatest foe, and even though the dragon that was supposed to guard her was perfectly safe and happy there, Azura still felt bile rise in her throat at the idea of telling them her secrets. No, they would live, but she would never bow and scrape to tell them how Valla truly worked. Hoshido, too, was a nation full of spies and operatives that distrusted them. But the princesses and Takumi had been kind. He in particular had protected her. And she was willing to return the favor if only to have the opportunity to see him perservere.

 

Somehow, he had been pulled into a dream that neither of them could get him out of. And that had put her at the crossroads of a new decision.

 

“When you awake…there’s something I need to tell both you and the Queen immediately. Although,” Azura paused, “She may already know.” 


	8. Drabble Interlude: Papers in a Breeze

Dear Azura:

 

I loved the flower you sent with your last note! I’m using the pretty paper it came in as a bookmark, and Camilla wore your hairpin the other day while out at the market. Are the pegasi in Hoshido as cool and fast as I remember them?They’re so pretty!

 

Leo visited Hoshido once to talk about a book he was working on in the academy. He said that there were fortune-tellers that could read bones and flowers. Have you seen them yet? I bet I’d make a neat fortune-teller too! Just in case the Princess thing doesn’t work out, that is.

 

I’m getting better at riding my horse out into the city. Father’s sent along Effie and Arthur to keep me company, and there’s lots to do in training. Corrin’s still training with us, even though Father thinks that what she really needs are etiquette lessons to fit in as a proper bride for Xander. But if you ask me, they’re perfect for each other just the way they are! 

 

You know what the _real_ problem is? Everything is too quiet here. If you ever feel the mood to write a song, I’ll send along something really neat to accompany it on the violin. Deal?

 

Your very best friend,

 

Elise

 

= = =

 

Dear Azura:

 

It’s been some time since your last letter, so imagine my surprise to find out where you’ve decided to go! I know you had wanted to get away from Nohr a little while. Honestly, I feel the same way sometimes. It’s much harder for me to drop everything and leave now. A sky knight? Maybe you’ll best me in a sparring match when you get back! (I don’t think that’s happening, by the way. Corrin: one, Azura: zero)

 

You asked whether I had ever had dreams about Valla. Yes, but never good ones, and I could never figure out what it was that was missing whenever I saw pieces of it. I had always thought that you had a better idea about the prophecy. A part of me wanted badly to just to get something— anything— about the place where we come from. Even if it meant risking drowning or melting into bubbles or whatever horrible things our homeland’s cooked up.

 

What I wouldn’t give to spend a day in a Valla that hadn’t fallen apart.I’m sure you’ve felt that, too, knowing exactly what we’ve lost. I don’t know how to rebuild this, but I’d like to start offering you some answers where I can. Take a look in the package attached to this letter, and tell me what you make of it. It’s a history book that’s from the library of the Rainbow Sage, and if anyone knows what really happened, it’s him. We should make a journey to see him together whenever you’re back in Nohr. He makes a good cup of tea.

 

Yours,

Corrin

 

= = =

 


	9. Strange Audiences

“At long last, the famed songstress arrives for a meeting.” Queen Mikoto was working at a small low desk, writing down paperwork with a thin reed brush. Writing with quick strokes of the brush-pen, Mikoto was someone that likely worked carefully. Azura could see that in a person easily. A twinge of jealousy passed through her. She had never found that writing out lyrics came to her easily.

 

“Sit, sit. I’ll have tea and sweets brought in.” She set down her stationery and moved out from her workstation, gesturing towards two cushions set around a low tea-table. Soon enough, fresh matcha and a small plate of rice-flour pastries sat between them. Tasting the tea, Azura found a perfectly-matched blend to the calm early afternoon that settled over the small yard. The queen kept to quiet, modest quarters with a courtyard equipped with archery targets. The priestesses of Hoshido, after all, used bow and arrow for ceremonies and self-protection.

 

Even out of her court finery, the Queen cut an elegant figure in a sky-blue kimono, with bright gold ornaments pinning her hair back. Her white cloak grazed her shoulders and brushed against the polished floor as she moved from desk to sit before her guest.

 

“Your son has been showing up in my dreams lately.” Azura let the subject drop as she lowered her teacup, setting it down with both hands on the flat table between her and Mikoto.

 

“Oh!” The Queen’s eyes widened, and her hand flew to her mouth. A slightly mischievous grin crept onto her face, bringing a vibrant and lively expression most would have not used to characterize someone of such high regal bearing. “Well, that’s lovely to hear, Azura. Prince Takumi has become quite popular, or so I’ve heard from—”

 

“No, I’m afraid that sentence was literal,” Azura’s mouth was set as she cut that line of questioning to a mercifully short length. The last thing she needed was for Queen Mikoto to know how she felt about anyone, true or not. “He’s been showing up here—” She set the necklace on the table with a sharp _clack_ — “ and half the time he appears, he’s fired arrows at me. Hardly a courtship activity.” For emphasis, Azura shot the Queen a knowing look, recalling her comments the last time they had met.

 

“I see.”There were rumors that the woman before her had powers of prophecy, and if Azura’s hunch was right (and they usually were), that was neatly explained by whatever connections she had to Valla. Its people, according to Arete’s stories, had a connection with a dragon that could read threads of prophecy like lines from a book. The abilities were strongest among the royal family, as both a gift and a curse for their pledged loyalty to the ancient, godlike creatures.

 

Her mother always considered problems with a distinct a pensive expression, one that Azura swore mirrored the thoughtful way Queen Mikoto tilted her head slightly and looked off into the distance. Down to the muscle movement, the black-haired woman resembled Arete of Valla. She wasn’t sure how she had missed the similarities before.

 

“Azura, when did you start having trouble controlling that necklace?” Mikoto asked gently.

 

“When it came to what it could do about Nohr,” She answered. “I ran into some unexpected things there. And as you know, Valla hasn’t had the best history with that kingdom.”

 

“Ahhhh,” A neat frown crept onto her face. “Nohr. But it still stands, and you came away unscathed.” Mikoto raised a finger.”So you must’ve been stronger than you thought.”

 

She continued. “Would you like to know something about Valla? Perhaps you know quite a bit already. But there were said to be two sacred weapons borne to it, just like Hoshido and Nohr.”

 

“The Fujin Yumi is one of Hoshido’s.” Azura thought out loud. She had seen the bow once outside of slumber, and once within it, when Takumi had shot down wave upon wave of flying foes without effort.

 

“Correct,” answered Mikoto. She walked over to the other side of the room where the weapon in question was neatly racked onto a wall. The shining, polished wood was balanced perfectly and hummed at the Queen’s touch. As Mikoto picked it up, she held it parallel to the ground, as if preparing to use it for a ritual, bending her knees.

 

At once, the shimmering bowstring materialized as if greeting an old friend. It was clear that the bow recognized her as a master just as it did when Takumi picked it up.

 

Mikoto rose from bended knee and released the weapon, returning it to its place when she had finished. “The Fujin Yumi and the Raijinto, which Crown Prince Ryoma carries, are the holy weapons of this kingdom. In Nohr, the Brynhildr and the longsword Siegfried. But for Valla, there is the Yato…”

 

Instantly, the vision of a glowing golden blade slicing towards her stirred Azura’s memory. She shuddered, already recalling what it was capable of.

 

“And the Pendant of Prophecy. Your pendant,” Mikoto reached out and laid a finger onto the necklace. The air stirred with something Azura couldn’t place, but left her deeply unsettled. Reflexively, she reached over and snatched the pendant back, not caring if it broke some protocol. This time, she replaced the pendant around her neck. 

 

“How do you know so much? Hoshido had no part in our history.”

 

“Hoshido did not, but I did.”

 

The answer came to Azura instantly— Hoshido was ruled by a Vallan, and one that knew of it closely.

 

A thick, painful senseof invisible tenseness built up in her throat like it did in her earliest days performing on the street, afraid of everyone and everything around her. Azura had hated those times, because everything, from debt collectors to the freezing rain that pounded against the thin lodgings she had squeezed into, was trying to break her.In one fell swoop, the Queen of the land she now relied on had brought it back. But this was her best chance to get the answers she had searched for for all her life.

 

“Well, don’t look so surprised at the news,” Mikoto laughed, staring straight into Azura’s still-impassive voice. Out of everything she was able to do, from magic-imbued songs to prophecy, the ability to express little emotion on the outside was one that Azura took the most pride in.

 

“I’m quite surprised, I assure you. And I await your answers about Valla in due time,” she answered calmly. “Whenever you’re ready, Azura, I am here.”

 

She met the girl’s gaze, and suddenly the impish look of the beginnings of their conversation crept back into her countenence. “For the record, I still think that you’ve got a crush. And as his stepmother who’s seen plenty of less-than stellar prospects, I have to say that there might be a good match— just think about it!” In a quick succession of words, the priestess-queen had set Azura’s nerves on edge once again. More than anything, the songstress wanted to sink into the ground. But such a task was beyond any of the numerous abilities she possessed.

 

“What did she say now?” Azura froze as the voice, which was precisely the one that she didn’t need to hear. In daylight, Takumi looked as if nothing had happened at all. That made sense, she thought. To show weakness in front of his regent would have been something that someone like him could never accept.

 

“She thinks it’d be interesting if I started to practice sparring with you.” She answered quickly, glaring at the Queen and imploring her to keep her opinions to herself. “Queen Mikoto was just telling me about the Fujin Yumi, wasn’t she?”

 

“I was. It partners beautifully with just about anyone its wielder fights with. I will have you know that in my day, I covered for King Sumeragi in the heat of battle with this bow.” She smiled proudly, casting a look over to the weapon. “For what it’s worth, I think we made quite the pair. ”

 

There was a great collection of factors that had gotten Azura to where she was. She wished despearately that something had happened differently so that the Queen was not verbally trying to dismantle every single one of her carefully-laid plan to maintain composure at all times.

 

“You look unwell. Is something the matter?” Takumi cast a worried look over.

 

“I’m quite fine. Just a bit tired. You know how it is.” The last sentence was a reminder to herself about just how careful she could be with discretion. Really, she wouldn’t have minded if the ninja employed under the crown that had made an attempt on her life would try to do so again, just to put her out of her misery.

 

“Queen Mikoto, your words of wisdom are greatly appreciated. Truly, you have gifted me with some valuable insights.” Those were words that she meant. Nobody had ever told her that she was strong in doing what she had done. It was either reckless, catastrophic, or threats that still brought a chill to her spine.

 

“I have one request, Prince Takumi.”

 

Both the Queen and her stepson turned to regard her curiously.

 

“Do you happen to have a current star-chart I could borrow? I’d like to know about the current moon-cycle. Just out of curiosity”

 

= = =

 

Just his luck. Azura was someone who was just as difficult to figure out as the Queen, speaking in riddles and half-answers. Those problems weren’t completely alien as far as Takumi was concerned. Shogi and history weren’t for pushovers, after all. But when it came to secrets that Azura hid, she buried the information deep and didn’t give up anything easily. Just like he did when it came to the things that he dreamed about, good and bad.

 

Takumi had woken up in a cold sweat, clenching his palms so hard he could feel the beat of his pulse through his fingers. It was another night of wondering if the demons he had been thrown to would win for good. Worse, he had taken the chance to face Azura again, and had shot at her, aiming to kill.

 

The star-chart was the first concrete thing he had been given. Though bits and pieces of the song she had sung floated in and out of his recollections, something was meant to happen by the cycle of the moon. Which meant that their days — and nights— were surely numbered in some way before disaster would strike.

 

“You don’t have to do this alone.” He looked through the shelves stacked high with scrolls as they searched through the castle’s collection of books and charts. “If I’m stuck in there with you, there must be a good reason.”

 

“There have been too many chances that have put you in danger. Next time,” Azura looked to the side, “you may not be so lucky.”

 

“Well, I’m no pushover, and if there’s a way out, I want to help you find it. Hand me that crate, will you?”

 

Azura looked at the wooden box that lay on the ground, then at Takumi and the higher shelf where he aimed to retrieve a scroll from. She rapped the side of it with her knuckles, frowning.

 

“Isn’t this a little flimsy?”

 

“I’ll be fine. Slide it over and let’s get your star-chart.”

 

He braced a foot on the crate and reached upwards. As soon as Takumi’s hands closed around the scroll, Azura heard a sharp crack from the crate. She leapt forward. It was a movement she had practiced while performing once in a play, and in her training as a sky-knight. Both dancers and knights were expected to catch those who fell, be they friend or foe.

 

Takumi landed in her arms in a graceless heap as they dodged the schrapnel of the crate that had splintered into pieces. Usually, he thought, a Prince was expected to catch a lady that had run into trouble. But he didn’t mind the specifics of the circumstances that had brought them together again. His body tensed as he recalled way he had reached for her in the dream-world, wanting to stay with her for as long as possible. All of a sudden, Takumi was keenly aware of how his breathing slowed during those moments of brilliance.

 

The waking world was far less sentimental as Azura snatched the scroll from him. “My thanks,” she muttered. But something was there in her countenence— a faint blush, a quickened pace, and a wavering in her voice.

 

Whatever Takumi had prepared when it came to her, dealing with how she felt— and how he might reciprocate— wasn’t in the cards at all. What he could do next about that was something that would prove far more difficult than any monsters with which they would cross paths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mikoto is alive and is going to troll the heck out of these sad teens


	10. Rumors and Realizations

Practice always started off easy, at first. Azura was given a partner and a long bamboo pole, sharpened slightly at the end and tipped with rubber. Each was told to strike the weapon from her foe’s hands. From the opposite side of the field, she would advance, thinking of the shadowy Vallan warriors that continued to plague her dreams. In the waking world, each day that she trained herself had given her a better sense of cadence and timing that was needed to survive each night. 

 

Halfway through the morning, Commander Reina blew three short blasts from a whistle, and would gesture towards the Sky Knights’ mounts. Airborne training would follow, and with heavier weapons in hand, the trainees would weave through the skies of Hoshido, figuring out everything they needed to know to fight at high speeds, to dodge arrows, and to outrun a foe that proved too overwhelming. Her face was grimmest once, when airborne, she recalled a tale of a fleet of knights that were shot down because they refused to escape and find help elsewhere. From the way the Commander idly touched her scars while recounting the tale, Azura was certain that it was more personal than she let on.

 

Fighting with a lance had always been something Azura was far less proud of than singing. In Nohr, the motions of spearfighting were focused on putting one’s weight into it. On horseback, cavaliers and paladins charged at their foes. Armor knights threw their weight at their enemies and could use heavy shields and spears to break bones and smash limbs.

 

Scrawny, skinny little Azura had never had the ability to do much except uselessly jab at larger children who would grow up to be splendid, stronger knights. She expected to get nothing out of lance-fighting except a broken arm and her shattered pride.

 

As luck would have it, she figured out how to defend herself at last through music. The steps she took towards her opponent had a rhythm. The clang of the lance against weapons or armor was the first note. And under everything, her pounding heart, nervous or triumphant, provided a beat to set the next part of her story to.

 

Pegasi —and, she hoped, their Kinshi brethren—had to respond to a knight that could guide it in all three dimensions. It was a matter of choreographing where to go, the speed with which they would dive at an enemy, and trust in her partner to veer her out of a turn to get to safety.

 

“Hey,” Azura finished wrapping her practice spear when she heard the voice of Commander Reina. She looked around the sparring area only to find it empty of other Sky-Knight trainees.

 

“Is there something the matter, Commander?” Though months had passed since she had began life in the kingdom, a keen awareness ran through her that every second could be taken away from her. Fierce, no-nonsense Reina was someone whose favor could be easily lost.

 

Surprisingly enough, the decorated veteran let out a short bark of a laugh. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. It comes across when you fight.”

 

“Is it that obvious?” Azura found herself asking.

 

“I see it all the time with Lord Ryoma and Lady Hinoka.” A gentleness that Azura had never heard before crept into Reina’s voice. She looked over to the field, where Hinoka was guiding her pegasus through a grove of tall trees, dodging and weaving through the obstacles at impossibly fast speeds. “They lost their father and their mother early, and tried to use training to work it out. And that works. For a while. I learned that the hard way, too.” A grimace flickered across the face of the older woman. “But it’s not a substitute for working out what you need to solve off the sparring fields. Talk to someone if you need to, okay? Build out your squadron here or wherever you need to”

 

Reina clapped her against the back, and Azura winced at the force of the her hand. Still, the Commander had meant well, in her own way. Which had involved far more explanations of breaking off enemies’ fingers than she had expected.Then again, warriors always had different sides to them, if the songs that she sang had been any accurate.

 

A squadrom. That was a concept that had been familiar, through what she heard of knights of Nohr and Hoshido, but never something that seemed possible. After all, she had worked alone and suffered alone. But despite whatever ways the curses set upon her was determined to isolate her, Azura was never quite alone.

 

“I appreciate your kindness, Commander. And there are plenty of people to talk to. I’ve had pleasant conversations with the Queen, and Prince Takumi has been quite kind—”

 

She stopped herself.

 

“Oh, are we speaking of Prince Takumi? I have THE. BEST. Story about him and the Queen.” Sidling up the path towards the palace was Orochi, who was clad in a sun hat and a cloak over her diviner’s uniform. A basket of medicinal herbs was slung over her shoulders, and she looked to be returning from the tea and herb gardens that grew at the base of the mountains.

 

“Alright, Orochi, you’re going to have to tell me.” Reina grinned. “I will trade you one of my mother’s prized jars of plum wine for the tale.”

 

The Diviner shook her head. “Wellllll, I was, but I don’t know…If word gets back to her that I told you…”

 

The Kinshi knight rolled her eyes. “Two jars.” She retorted flatly.“Final offer.”

 

“Alright, so what happened was that when he started taking lessons from a tutor with some other boys, and then…”

 

The eyes of the usually stern commander widened as Azura leaned in, listening intently. If there was good gossip about, then that was all the more opportunity to take her chances and find out what it was. Perhaps there would be chances to bring it up in the future.

 

= = =

 

“She really packed notes that read ‘soup for my perfect little soup boy’ into your food? ”

 

“Well, she wanted to try to connect, and, well, I _did_ really talk a lot about soup at the time…” He admitted. Gone completely was his stern, disaffected expression. Two spots of pink appeared in the usually-proud Prince’s countenence as he shot an arrow wide of its target. Never in his life did Takumi expect to hear the words in that phrasing from the voice of someone who spoke in Azura’s deadpan tone. And never more was he so certain that he wanted to be anywhere else but reliving that specific childhood memory. Refocusing, he scoped out the incoming sky knight, leaned over the battlemont, and fired off another shot.

 

During a lull, he studied Azura’s expression in relaying the news.

 

“I think that wasa lovely gesture,” Azura beamed. “It just showed that she was looking out for you…in a way.” She leveled her lance and, in one smooth motion, cut down a charging cavalier. The motion of the lance moved through where the phantom soldier had stood as if no warrior had ever been there. For the first time she had ever recalled, she looked forward to entering the realm of dreams. After all, she had been given a bit of ammunition, thanks in part to two jars of plum wine that Reina had wagered. She was amused, but the words weren’t a weapon to be wielded.

 

Well meaning as Takumi’s retainers and siblings had been, few outside of his employ or his family was willing to grant him that sort of charity. It was alla bout what he would become and what he could do.

 

“What makes you say that?” He asked.

 

That was a question that Azura had an all-too-ready answer for. “She had married into your family, and she knew she needed to earn your trust. And your trust isn’t easy to earn, is it?” Turning, she gestured to the wall and sat down at the base of it. Their ltittle island saw a few foes, but she suspected that the reams of phantom enemies could be kept at bay for a while longer. “Here, sit with me for a while.”

 

Giving the area once-over, Takumi assented, but kept his eyes out and alert. He settled next to her, and caught the faint scent of fresh grass. She must have taken her pegasus out to graze earlier in the day, and the smell of clean fodder, pleasant and sweet, lingered in the air.

 

“Whenever I hear about these stories about you or your family, I can’t help but feel a little jealous,” Azura found herself saying. “Because my mother…”

 

Unconsciously, she hugged her knees as the silent dinners and ballrooms filled with silent, judgmental faces . Bile rose in her throat, only to be tamped down by a sudden sinking feeling of loneliness.

 

“If she’s anything like you, I know that she was very brave,” His voice growing quiet, Takumi set down the bow by his side and looked at her. She could tell that he didn’t give compliments easily, from the hesitation in his voice that silently questioned whether the words were just right. But they were, and she wanted them for herself. She didn’t talk about her mother to just anyone, and suddenly the words jarred.

 

So what did she have now, to be precise? A choice with a time limit tied to the phases of the moon. A court of ninja hiding in the shadows that distrusted her, and for good reason. And Prince Takumi, who was kind one moment and out for her blood the next by the conditions of a curse.

 

What would Hoshido take from her that Nohr could not? Her heart pounded out of rhythm as she thought out everything that it had done to her since she had arrived in the kingdom of Light.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring her up,” she said.“Let’s get back to looking out for enemies.”

 

“Azura…” He hadn’t said her name very much, but the sound of it drew her attention like nothing else did. It was then, as the world floated about them in pieces, that she realized that he was taken with her, and had been for quite some time.“You don’t have to be sorry about that.” The words wrapped around her like a soft mantle, despite her common sense’s protestations that they were in no place to exchange platitudes.

 

A performer was used to attracting attention from her audience. But nothing had ever told her what to do when somone else, who was strong and kind even when he didn’t believe it of himself, had captured her attentions thoroughly. Her pulse skittered, half out of excitement and half out of fear.

 

This time, as she rose and prepared to be on alert once more, Azura paused to observe Takumi as he did the same. She had never realized that he moved with short but precise reflexes, likely honed through countless hours of practice.As he looked over the walls of their islet, his gaze brushed past her and sent a jolt of heat speeding across her ears and down the nape of her neck.

 

And then, just as she wanted to lean forward to reach for him, the edges of her vision blurred from a sudden gust of wind. The sound of flapping wings resounded through the islands. This time, something far larger had flown towards then unbeknownst to Takumi or Azura.

 

“It’s good to finally meet you,” the young man, unlike the other soldiers they had encountered, wore brilliant white armor, unmarred by any of the illusions of Valla. A crown of pale blue hair atop his head framed refined features, and his voice echoed melodically in a way that suggested that he had a stunning sense of pitch. But more importantly, he wore a pendant so familiar that Azura reached for the one she wore, just to be sure.

 

“I have a message for you both, from the Queen. I suggest,” said the golden-eyed messenger, “that you look it over very carefully."

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the soup boy meme and i apologize for nothing


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